Communication Technology Review

Frontiers of Communication: Determining Place, Establishing Identity and Shaping Change

2007-07-13T00:36:00.001-06:00

American Communication Association Annual Conference
October 4-6, 2007, Taos, NM

Defining visions ranging from cowboys riding the open plains to astronauts exploring outer-space, the word Frontier, truly indicates the charting of new territory. As professionals we are challenged daily to step out of our comfort zone and into unknown terrains to analyze audiences, contexts and results of communication transactions. For most of us this provides an ongoing challenge for growth and learning. According to Karin Dovring, "Communication must be interpreted against the background in which it is spoken or printed and that failure to understand it in that light will result in misunderstanding, misrepresentation and utter failure."

The American Communication Association (ACA) offers you the opportunity to share scholarship and exchange ideas at its 2007 Annual Conference held October 4-6, 2007 on the Southern Methodist University's (SMU) Taos , New Mexico campus. SMU's campus is located at the old Fort Burgwin , which for more than 100 years lay buried and forgotten. Born of the clash of cultures in the early days of the New Mexico territory, it gradually decayed under the weight of other forces changing the face of the North American frontier. Today, resurrected and restored, Fort Burgwin thrives as a center for academic discovery. While there are plenty of hotels in Taos , the campus has casitas for on-site lodging. Since the campus is in the Carson National Forest , it is a wonderful place for walks and talks. The town of Taos , New Mexico , has something for everyone. Seated on the high-desert mesa at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Taos is rich with art, steeped in history, and provides visitors with a variety of experiences. Native American, Spanish, and Anglo cultures are proudly preserved through art and architecture, music and dance, and food and festivals for all to enjoy throughout the year. According to one website, "The region's frontier sagas of romance and history, its big hearted cowboy quests and the enduring mystique of ancient culture have woven themselves deeply into the tapestry of our collective memory and imaginations. "

The ACA conference will begin on the evening of October 3rd with a meet-and-greet event, followed by three days filled with intellectual presentations and discussion. An amazing experience has been planned to conclude the conference on Saturday evening, Oct. 6th. Student submissions are welcome. The deadline for submitting papers and panels is May 31, 2007. Acceptance notices will be sent early in July.

Theme one - Determining Place -Objective and Subjective Contexts -

By examining how communication defines circumstance, conditions, factors, state of affairs, situation, scene, and backgrounds the populace forms categories consisting of communities and groups in which to make meaning. During the first day of the conference, participants will examine such themes as: How do we construct places or socially shared contexts? How do we make the places known to others? What role does ecology play in communication? How do we learn the fabrics of socially shared contexts in traditional and virtual settings? Do newly created places provide for more or less expression? Are all contexts virtual in that we perceive them according to our own templates of reality and how does this impact communication? How is the substitution of nonhuman for human technology, transforming our lives into controlled environments and affecting the selection of communication channels and participants?

Theme Two: Shaping Change through Communication -

Successful action, movements, operations, engagement, power, influence, happenings, events, and activities are bringing people together to shape society. During the final day of the conference, participants will focus on how actions link place and identity to create virtual and electronic campaigns, many of which have given previously silent people more visibility to take part in such movements to transform their lives and communities. Topics such as The Third Force-- how people are coming together via the Internet to impact social problems - from Katrina to hunger. What are the social, cultural, technological factors that facilitate or hinder people from working with each other from different locations? Do we need a new "place" to foster collaboration? How do we communicate what we need and what we can offer across boundaries? How do we create a shared social context so we can organize and coordinate our actions? In a society that wants instant, preformed solutions to social issues, how do we find the language to bind rather than divide us?

Theme Three- Establishing Identities - Exogenous and Indigenous Identities -

Through examining the roles of participants, contributors, entrants, competitors, players, and candidates, the second day focuses on the native and the innovative roles people play when communicating. Who are we, traditional people or displaced people in a diasporic world? A networked world? How do we communicate "we"? Are "we" changing all the time? Are we empowered to revive or revise who we are? Are we free to choose how to express who we are? Who will be counted in "we" vs. "them"? How do we communicate to people that we are (not) one of them? The effects of a virtual society on multiculturalism: are we more homogenous because of the Internet or less so? In a culture that tends to believe deeply that in general 'bigger is better' how do we humanize a McDonaldized society? Do we define our society as intracultural or Multicultural? How do we protect and pass down our oral traditions and ceremony in a fast paced society? Does technology help or hinder the preservation of storytelling?

Student Submissions

The American Communication Association is open to all participants. Students are encouraged to submit full length papers and panel proposals on any of the themes above.

SUBMISSION: Please submit papers and panels to Rita Kirk (rkirk@smu.edu rkirk@smu.edu). All submissions should be submitted electronically. You will receive a notification that the submission has been received, and again later when the panels and schedules are posted.

Money. Pretty philosophical stuff.

2007-01-30T11:19:00.000-06:00

Money. Pretty philosophical stuff.

Darth Vader Ordering Lunch on the Death Star

2007-01-18T16:04:00.001-06:00

A la my favorite comedian...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp69rg6Hdlo&mode=related&search=

PC Sales Up, Profits Stale

2007-01-18T00:07:00.000-06:00

Interesting article out on ZDNet, talks about the fact that although PC sales worldwide have increased 10%, profits have remained stable. Seems like HP, Dell, and others are running harder on the treadmill to keep pace with the current profit rake.

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6150991.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

ACA 2.0 has finally arived!

2007-01-17T22:59:00.000-06:00

After many months of work and thousands of lines of code, we are proud to finally announce the completion of the American Communication Association's most comprehensive Web overhaul, ever. Feel free to browse to our Sitemap for a listing of all new pages, or head on over to ACA Interactive to get involved in our new online message board. Finally, please continue to check back at this blog for updates and ACA news!

Happy surfing,

Dan Garon
ACA CIO

working out some bugs

2007-01-02T14:48:00.000-06:00

please be patient while we work out some bugs in the TechReview BLOG. We're switching formats to integrate into the new site.

Happy Holidays TECHIES!

2006-12-24T16:57:00.000-06:00

White & Nerdy!!!

More DVD players than VCRs -- newsflash!!!

2006-12-23T16:57:00.000-06:00

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061222-8484.html

Perhaps more than any other component in media history -- save the PC itself -- the DVD has finally eclipsed the VCR as the modern media device of choice. Huzzahs to the DVD player!!!

Of course, as our broadband connections get bigger and better, there's a looming replacement for the DVD on the horizon: DVF. Direct Video Feed is becoming a back-channel term among the technocrats and digerati who predict that our fiber and twisted-pair copper will soon be delivering video on demand, from a gargantuan library.

So, celebrate your day in the sun, DVD... But, don't invest too heavily in the DVD collection. Someday soon, you may order your movies just like your music from Napster or iTunes.

DVF -- coming soon to a home near you!!!

BBC goes P2P

2006-12-23T16:56:00.001-06:00

http://www.techtree.com/India/News/BBC_Offering_Programs_on_Internet/551-78053-643.html

The BBC seems to understand the power of the 'Net by releasing many of its "on-air" programs "on-line" through a DRM-protected video web-client. As Winston Churchill once said, "It is better to jaw-jaw than to war-war." Many "on-air" folk are now deferring to a growing, if not swelling, Internet -- ready to embrace quality content.

Google swings with open-source Samba

2006-12-23T16:56:00.000-06:00

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa..81,00.htm

Make no mistake about it. This is a major coup for Google, a loss for Novell, and a zero-sum gain for Microsoft. 4-5 years from now, when the open-source movement really catches traction in the popular sector, Google will likely be behind the no-cost or low-cost effort.

If you are new to the open-source game, all you need to know is this: Smart programmers have either (a) made enough money not to care about corporate capitalism anymore, (b) are mad at their former parent companies for one reason or another, or (c) have simply gone Socialist. These bright programming minds are developing software FOR FREE, and giving it away in hopes that it will catch on.

Want to see a very effective use of the open-source community in an application? Go to OPEN OFFICE and download their very competitive Office Suite -- for nothing. Try it out. See how it compares with the Microsoft and Corel versions...

With Google getting into the open-source game, who knows where the bottle will stop spinning? Big news. Major. Important. Timely. All of the neat adjectives.

Novell sells out? Is this possible?

2006-12-21T16:55:00.001-06:00

http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/8264/1090/

Another interesting story that will surely have some impact on the open-source community, and probably RED HAT, in particular. Seems that a deal between Novell and Microsoft is receiving some open-source community criticism. I'll be sure to follow this story into the new year, and see *exactly* what RED HAT (Linux) does in the wake of Novell's moves.

Intel worried about market share on AMD

2006-12-21T16:55:00.000-06:00

Story here.

Seems as if the Duo Core QUAD wars are on between Intel and AMD. Most of these QUADs were meant for server technology, but people are snapping them up for their home and gaming systems. Personally, I'm running a Duo Core in the house, and cannot imagine the need for a QUAD. Not saying that I wouldn't appreciate the nanosecond of clock-time saved on an application, mind you. I'm just not certain that it is absolutely worth it, just yet, until prices fall and technology diffuses a bit more.

AMD and the VISION thing...

2006-12-21T16:52:00.000-06:00

Story here.

AMD plans to have a lab opening in the Pacific NW, which will focus on 5-year-out planning and development for chips. I'm sure they are looking into Spintronics, since IBM is pouring a lot of R&D $ into the area. Wonder which minds will get tapped.

Good news for AMD, especially since they just bought ATI which makes some of the leading graphics cards on the market.

Google -- good or evil?

2006-12-20T16:52:00.000-06:00

http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=5837749&nav=9qrx

Interesting story out today on Google's efforts to digitize the world's knowledge. Not much else to write about today, given the holidays coming up.

Peace to all,
ty

$30 billion expected by VCs in 2007

2006-12-19T16:49:00.001-06:00

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6144775.html

Interesting article on ZDNet tells us that Venture Capitalists are not, yet, done with the Internet. Seems that energy, the Internet, and Asia are very hot markets for international play in 2007. Has the Web 2.0 movement and dot-com boom-and-bust created a vacuum into which new capital will seek out profit in these areas?

Nanotechnology and liberated circuitry

2006-12-19T16:49:00.000-06:00

http://science.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1234610.php/UI_licenses_flex_electronics_technology

For those of you who do not know, I am writing a book on nanotechnology right now called "Communication Shock: The Acceleration of Everything." One of the major arguments in that book is that nanotechnology is going to develop rapidly within the next decade, bringing some innovative equipment to our doorsteps, provided that industry can "ramp up" to mass production for the consumer class.

The Monsters and Critics article is especially interesting, because it essentially outlines a major point of the new plank, moving design from research to development. Imagine a world where circuitry can be printed on glass or paper... Pretty exciting stuff, from an engineering and information science perspective.

iPhone -- not an Apple product

2006-12-18T16:49:00.001-06:00

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2006/tc20061218_465203.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_businessweek+exclusives

I have been using Skype for a while now. I really like it as a chat client, and think that the program's VOIP qualities are simply superb. One of the toys I bought for my mother in law, who calls overseas quite a bit, is the USB US Robotics phone for Skype. It works great...lots of interactivity between Internet-ready phones and land/cell-lines.

However, these new iPhones (not an Apple moniker), are supposed to be really freaking cool. They will use Skype features, but will also rely upon WIFI hotspots to catch a signal, and then do VOIP over the particular LAN. Very cool stuff, and very cool thinking...

Dell in Trouble?

2006-12-18T16:49:00.000-06:00

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6144279.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Seems like Dell is not reporting all of its information to the SEC. Wonder what this could possibly be about? Maybe the laptop battery recall has affected the no. 2 computer maker too adversely to report?

Venice Project

2006-12-18T16:48:00.000-06:00

http://www.theveniceproject.com/

Please see the above link. I think you'll find it interesting. Seems that the people who brought us the Skype chat and VOIP client that redefined the way Big Telecom sees its own business models are venturing out into television. The plan, as I see it, is to bring television itself through the Internet, and directly challenge the cable industry by using the broadband infrastructure to funnel content to viewers/users.

What could the possible implications be to the mass communications industry?

Quad Core POWER!!!

2006-12-18T16:47:00.000-06:00

ACA,

As soon as I write this, I will likely be out of date with my information (again!). Seems to me that it was just yesterday when I was drooling over my recent purchase of an Intel DUO-Core processor Dell XPS machine. I am very familiar with the concept of trying to stall buying to get the best in technology purchasing, but, the release of the DUO-Core machines, followed by the seemingly hyperquick release of the QUAD-Core machines has me puzzled.

I'd like to hear some of the reactions by the ACA crowd out there, as to whether or not their DUO or QUAD-Core machines are performing to their expecations. I'm just now burning in my XPS 410, and can honestly say that it is serving ALL of my computing needs at this point. I'm running 4mb of RAM on Dual monitors, and just as happy as I can possibly be.

Any AMD users out there with similar results on the QUADRAS? I know AMD has announced a line of OCTO-Cores coming out in Aprin of 2007. Just very interesting...

Welcome to the ACA Blog!

2006-12-18T16:46:00.000-06:00

Welcome to ACA's new BLOG. We're open for business.